The discovery of my vocation was an adventure full
of signs that God little by little was setting on
my path. Several times in my life I felt the
soft yet constant call of God. I will mention here
only the most important ones.

I am the fifth out of
a family of six children. I have three sisters and
two brothers. They say “a small family lives better,” but
this is not my experience. My parents educated us in
the Catholic faith, not only by their words but also
by their example.

Hunting and fishing were my hobbies. On the
weekend I played sports with my dad, my siblings, and
my friends.

Maybe God wants you to be a priest

I made
my First Communion when I was eleven, in the convent
chapel of the nuns of the Heart of Jesus in
León, Guanajuato. On one occasion I asked one of the
nuns with simplicity, “Why can’t we know God completely?”

She
answered me, “Because he is too big.” To want to
know him would be similar to try to pour all
the water of the ocean into a flower pot. And
she added, to my surprise, “Maybe God wants you to
be a priest.” I thought for a moment but did
not answer her. Even after my First Communion, this phrase
had a certain resonance inside of me and through it
God was questioning me. I see this as the first
sign of my call.

Who will celebrate Mass?

I felt the strongest
sign of my call to the priesthood during a homily.
I was around fifteen. It was here I found that
God wanted me to be a priest.

The priest began the
homily by remembering that a priest from the diocese of
León had passed away the night before. He said that
sixty per cent of the diocese’s priests were over sixty.
He also said that there were just a few men
in the diocese’s seminary. These facts had a profound impact
in me. He asked, “What is going to happen in
twenty years? Who will celebrate Mass? Who will hear confessions?”
And he concluded by saying, “Young people, if God is
calling you, be generous!”

I left the church that day with
the call ringing in my soul. God used those simple
questions asked by the priest to help me see his
will. I tried not to pay attention, but I could
not forget it.

Have you ever thought of becoming a priest?

In
my school, the “Instituto Lux” we were given a test
to see which degree we were going to pursue. One
of the questions was: Have you ever thought of becoming
a priest? It baffled me in the same way the
priest’s questions had before. I quickly answered no, afraid someone
would discover my desire to become a priest. Running away
from God’s call, I excused myself interiorly by saying, “God
can’t call me because there are other people with more
qualities.”

Lord, ask me what you want but give me what

you ask

I began to study accounting at the Iberioamericana College
of León. I studying for the degree and I finished
the year with good grades. But my soul was empty;
there was great anxiety in my soul because I was
not doing what God wanted me to do. Then I
started to pray. The most frequent prayer was, “Lord, ask
me whatever You want, but give me that which You
ask.”

God heard my prayer. By his providence, a good friend
of mine, Roel Osorio, who I had not seen for
a while, told me that he was going to Monterrey
for a summer program of vocational discernment with the Legionaries
of Christ. He told me, “I want to know if
God is calling me to be a priest.” (He is
also a Legionary). I spoke with Father Santiago Pérez Santana,
a Legionary priest, in order to see if I could
participate in the summer program and he said it was
fine. In Monterrey I met for the first time the
Legionary charism, their formation, and the apostolatic works they carry
out. God helped me see with clarity that he indeed
was calling me to be his priest in the ranks
of this religious congregation.

Father Luis Madrazo Mayorga was born
on August 9, 1977 in León, Guanajuato, Mexico. He studied
at the “Instituto Lux” with the Jesuits. He studied accounting
for one at the Iberoamericana College in Plantel Leon. On
Septemer 15, 1997 he entered the novitiate of the Legion
of Christ in Salamanca, Spain. He studied classical humanities in
Cheshire, Connecticut and a Bachelor’s in Philosophy in Thornwood, New
York. He worked in the formation of Catholic youth through
youth clubs in Brazil. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in
Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, where
currently he is working towards a licentiate in Theology.